Is the campaign for rail travel working?

[Techniquest]

Sounds like you two have had some bad experiences on MB/NX services. Mine haven't been brilliant, granted, but not as bad as that! Slowest one I've had was with Megabus. Victoria to Birmingham, then either via Manchester or direct to Preston then up to Glasgow and finally across to Dundee. Took flipping ages (10 hours or more I think, I can't remember the exact duration now), and although we had the luxury of a Neoplan double decker, it dragggggggggggged!

 

[HST Power]

This may be statistically true, but it certainly doesn't feel that way during an emergency landing.

I won't take this any further (to keep thread on topic) but my Dad goes the Microsoft Flight Simulator and if you want to see bad landings, you should see him try!

 

[All Line Rover]

I used to do a fair bit of travelling on megabus/NX and I agree, it's not good at all. The only advantages are that it is cheap and sometimes more direct.

My worst journey was London to Manchester where the megabus coach was substituted with a local Stagecoach double-decker bus from Manchester - no toilet (only one toilet break in the almost five hour journey), no luggage space (seats were used), pacer-style bus seats with no padding, boiling hot, the bus couldn't keep to time (40 mins late), bumpy and no apologies from the grumpy drivers. Truly awful - even if I only paid £4.50, others paid more.

I have been on a coach to London once. NEVER AGAIN!

When you're on a coach, the truly awful part is on the approach to Watford when you see all the trains whizzing past! When you're on a train, the truly wonderful part is on the approach to Watford when you whiz past all the road vehicles!

 

[SS4]

At 6 foot 1 I will always take the train. Even if the leg room is often lacking (in first too if someone is sitting opposite) I can still walk up and down the train to stretch.

Being relatively close to BHM also means it's a lot easier to get a (direct) train to wherever I want to go
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

I have been on a coach to London once. NEVER AGAIN!

When you're on a coach, the truly awful part is on the approach to Watford when you see all the trains whizzing past! When you're on a train, the truly wonderful part is on the approach to Watford when you whiz past all the road vehicles!

I have to agree, especially when the WCML runs parallel to the M1 and you see the cars only doing 70

 

[lemonic]

b) Edinburgh to Bury St Edmunds (Suffolk)

awful by train - unless you can put me wise
but with options of Easyjet (which really is OK as a no-frills) to London Stansted
or Flybe to Norwich.

I wouldn't say it is awful, straight down the East Coast Mainline to Peterborough and then on to a direct train to Bury St Edmunds. The only catches are: The direct Peterborough to Bury St Edmunds trains only run every 2 hours and with the new Eureka timetable you may need to change somewhere en-route e.g. York rather than going straight from Edinburgh to Peterborough to get the quickest journey. (For information, Peterborough to Bury St Edmunds takes about 1 hour 10 minutes)

 

[WestCoast]

Took flipping ages (10 hours or more I think, I can't remember the exact duration now), and although we had the luxury of a Neoplan double decker, it dragggggggggggged!

In the early days of megabus, one could expect an ex-Hong Kong double decker Olympian...

I've done 7 hours on one of them, not comfortable at all. That should be an advert for Virgin/East Coast/FGW

 

[yorksrob]

I won't take this any further (to keep thread on topic) but my Dad goes the Microsoft Flight Simulator and if you want to see bad landings, you should see him try!

I hope he's not a pilot

 

[HST Power]

It certainly looks very cramped. Why do all coach seats have styling reminiscent of a drunkards sick?

I hope he's not a pilot

No worries, he's a teacher.

(his teaching is signifcantly better than his landing )

 

[StrollerEd]

I wouldn't say it is awful, straight down the East Coast Mainline to Peterborough and then on to a direct train to Bury St Edmunds. The only catches are: The direct Peterborough to Bury St Edmunds trains only run every 2 hours and with the new Eureka timetable you may need to change somewhere en-route e.g. York rather than going straight from Edinburgh to Peterborough to get the quickest journey. (For information, Peterborough to Bury St Edmunds takes about 1 hour 10 minutes)

Thanks. The router I was using was taking me via Cambridge. btw, what is the best online routing tool for mixed lines?

 

[WestCoast]

Thanks. The router I was using was taking me via Cambridge. btw, what is the best online routing tool for mixed lines?

Do you mean different rail companies? If so www.eastcoast.co.uk will do - you get an extra 10% off their advance tickets.

 

[StrollerEd]

Do you mean different rail companies? If so www.eastcoast.co.uk will do - you get an extra 10% off their advance tickets.

I did, and that was the one I was using. I'll try again to get the best / quickest route, bearing in mind that the purpose is to arrive in time for 'visiting hours' and then see about same day vs overnight and two 'visits'.

 

[HST Power]

I did, and that was the one I was using. I'll try again to get the best / quickest route, bearing in mind that the purpose is to arrive in time for 'visiting hours' and then see about same day vs overnight and two 'visits'.

Whatever you do, don't go to the Trainline.com. After many, many purchases I can assure you it saves a whacking great 0% on fares.

 

[WestCoast]

Whatever you do, don't go to the Trainline.com. After many, many purchases I can assure you it saves a whacking great 0% on fares.

It actually costs you MORE with the fees they add on.

 

[HST Power]

It actually costs you MORE with the fees they add on.

If I ever come to power, I'm shutting them down.

Make a date in your diary, this is a future election pledge!

 

[WestCoast]

I did, and that was the one I was using. I'll try again to get the best / quickest route, bearing in mind that the purpose is to arrive in time for 'visiting hours' and then see about same day vs overnight and two 'visits'.

Do you want an alternative route planner? Then www.nationalrail.co.uk may give you options that East Coast doesn't.

If I ever come to power, I'm shutting them down.

Make a date in your diary, this is a future election pledge!

Don't forget raileasy, MyTrainTicket and Qjump(?) -arrgggh!

Redspottedhanky are fine though - no fees and they take Tesco Clubcard vouchers so can't complain. You can use their local rate number to avoid their rip-off call rates.

 

[radamfi]

I do train, coach, car and plane in fairly even amounts and they all have their advantages from time to time. It must be borne in mind that the main reason why coaches exist is because the train is seen as prohibitively expensive by some people, so arguably coaches would hardly exist if train fares weren't high. Having said that, if you added up all the seats on scheduled coaches versus the number of train passenges on competing routes then you can see that coaches are a very minor player, in England at least. It is different in Scotland where coaches are very competitive in both frequency and journey time.

Apart from cost, coaches can be better than trains in certain respects. Travelling at night can be more pleasant by coach as the lights are switched off whereas trains are illuminated very brightly. There is a fairly comprehensive network of overnight coaches whereas most overnight trains have ceased. Coaches mostly run a 7 day timetable, meaning they are particularly competitive early on Sunday morning when traffic is light. Train services don't usually start very early on Sunday and when they do start they are often slower than usual.

 

[WestCoast]

Apart from cost, coaches can be better than trains in certain respects..

National Express can be OK, but megabus never used to turn the lights off - bright lights all night. Coaches are still poor with frequency, speed, catering and comfort facilities (like toilets). I've found some drivers rather rude as well.

 

[HST Power]

As far as train vs coach goes I think we can safely conclude that the train wins by a good few miles.

 

[radamfi]

but megabus never used to turn the lights off

There are two fairly distinct incarnations of Megabus. The original version which principally used Hong Kong Olympians and street bus stops and the current version which is basically now a National Express clone and mostly uses proper bus stations. Since Megabus mostly uses coaches now, they usually turn off the lights, for the driver's benefit mostly.

Megabus now offer Wi-Fi on most services, and for free, and it usually works. Obviously reception is easier on motorways compared to railway lines.

 

[WestCoast]

There are two fairly distinct incarnations of Megabus. The original version which principally used Hong Kong Olympians and street bus stops and the current version which is basically now a National Express clone and mostly uses proper bus stations. Since Megabus mostly uses coaches now, they usually turn off the lights, for the driver's benefit mostly.

I have only used megabus once in the past 3 years and I did notice that some of the clientele were less refined (to put it diplomatically) than NX. It always was this way. Megabus was usually younger people and NX still attracted quite a few older characters. Although the single-decker Plaxton Panther(?) coach was OK, not as good as NX's leather seated coaches.

The old incarnation was extremely disorganised with poor quality all round.

 

[90019]

Going back a bit, since I had to go do other stuff before I got a chance to submit this post.

If you're all for environmentally friendly travel then why is your user picture a big truck?

Just because I made the thread to discuss the concept does not necessarily indicate that I endorse it!

I take the plane at least once every three or four months (due to work) and drive a fair bit too. I'm a truck enthusiast and a very keen F1 supporter...so in summary, I'm hardy Mr.Eco!

At least it's an unusual Stobart truck. Only seen one MAN up this way, just the usual Volvos and Scanias the rest of the time. I like MANs a lot, especially the TGX

 

[StrollerEd]

Do you want an alternative route planner? Then www.nationalrail.co.uk may give you options that East Coast doesn't.

thanks

 

[HST Power]

At least it's an unusual Stobart truck. Only seen one MAN up this way, just the usual Volvos and Scanias the rest of the time. I like MANs a lot, especially the TGX

Shall I make another HGV thread?

 

[radamfi]

Megabus will inevitably be skewed towards younger passengers as they sell most of their tickets through the internet whereas National Express still sell a lot of seats at coach stations or agents. Although Megabus now sell tickets at certain locations such as Manchester Shudehill and London Victoria. National Express serve more small towns and are often used by old people through long term loyalty and also as they provide more of a door to door service. Some old people use National Express because they find trains too confusing.

Megabus have some high specification Van Hool double deckers now, particularly on cross border runs, although they run a lot of ex-National Express coaches elsewhere.

Coaches in Scotland attract a more regular crowd and are probably viewed as a more mainstream form of transport compared to in England.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

If we are still doing comparisons with air travel, was it not so very long ago that an airport in South-West England withdrew some short-haul internal flights?

 

[dk1]

I consider myself one of the UKs lucky ones that i never went into further education & thus never went near the student end of things with little or no cash & on the everlasting search of the bargain basement way of travel. I would not leave the front door if it included more than half-hour on a bus let alone half a day on a coach. Give me the civalised A-B that is rail anyday.

 

[radamfi]

Trains can't go everywhere so buses will always be needed to get to and from the railhead. Buses CAN be an attractive mode of transport. It is just the experience of buses by UK residents is typically much worse than someone from, for example, Switzerland or the Netherlands.

 

[dk1]

Trains can't go everywhere so buses will always be needed to get to and from the railhead. Buses CAN be an attractive mode of transport. It is just the experience of buses by UK residents is typically much worse than someone from, for example, Switzerland or the Netherlands.

Quite agree but buses/coaches should meet trains not compete with them.

 

[radamfi]

Quite agree but buses/coaches should meet trains not compete with them.

Agreed, although it may be necessary to travel on a bus for more than half an hour if there is no train service.

 

[dk1]

Agreed, although it may be necessary to travel on a bus for more than half an hour if there is no train service.

True but we are talking desperation